


Something New? - A Free! Fanfic

by music_meisterjj



Category: Free!
Genre: A Free! fic after two years since it ended??, Continuation to the end of Free! Eternal Summer, Falling In Love, Haru realizing his love for Makoto after ALL THIS TIME, M/M, New Plot Twist!!!, Slowest plot ever, Story about a new ending, Swimming, The story may not be good but check it out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 20:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9785369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/music_meisterjj/pseuds/music_meisterjj
Summary: It's a new semester for Haruka Nanase after graduating high school, and his first year in college!! After finally realizing what he wants to do with his life, he sets off for Tokyo with his best friend, Makoto Tachibana, who he's loved his whole life...but doesn't know how to tell him? As the story continues of what could have become of Haru and Makoto, they meet new people, experience new things, and best of all...SWIM!





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is an uncompleted fic I wrote in the summer of 2016, for Free! At the time, I had just finished watching Season 2 of Free! and was inspired to write some MakoHaru stuff...lol so cheesy...it has only 4 chapters so far, me completing only 3, but since I want to broaden out what I've been writing I'll try to write more, for any of you people who are actually still INTERESTED in this stuff XD. Notes at the end will have my Twitter and Tumbr, so feel free to check them out!  
> -Janie

Chapter 1: A New Start

I’ve always been familiar with the ocean. I really never understood why. The way the waves crashed upon the shore and the cold feel to the touch when you walked in. I’ve always swam free when I was in any kind of water really; I’ve just never been open to trying new things. Swimming has only been what I’ve loved in life and I’ve always been a swimmer at heart. I never thought that I’d love something else in my life, something other than swimming, ever.

“Haru! Haru, we have to get to practice on time!”, Makoto yells for me as I hear the door unlock and close. He opens the door to the bathroom, where I currently am submerged in the bathtub.

“Come on,” he lends a hand for me to get out. I grab it and stand up. 

“You’re in your swimsuit again? Well, what can I expect, you wear those everyday, and plus, today’s the big day!” Makoto starts babbling about things that are pretty obvious. I’m glad he came with me to Tokyo to professionally swim and that I wasn’t alone when I decided to do this. And honestly, it’s Rin who I have to thank for all of this. He showed me how swimming can change if you put it in perspective. I hear Makoto stop speaking and think about what I should say.

“Well, I’m excited too, and a little nervous to be honest.” I say, trailing off.  
“Don’t worry! We’ll do great today! All you have to think about is swimming, like you always had! Plus, you tried and made it in, didn’t you? You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t make it on the team.” Makoto tells me as I get a towel to dry off. I change and get my bag with my stuff so that we can get to the pool for practice with our new team. We walk to the train station and then head on the train to Shibuya. As we’re on the train, I hear my phone ringing and answer. 

“Hello?” I ask.

“Haru?”

“Oh, hey Nagisa. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to tell you guys about how the swim club’s going. We’re getting new members and more people want to swim professionally! Me, Rei, and Gou are overwhelmed with all the people coming in and we have to see what they can do, so things are going great!” he tells me really quickly.

“Who is it?” Makoto asks. He probably didn’t hear that it was Nagisa.

“It’s Nagisa. He says that the swim club is doing great so far and that there are more people joining to swim professionally.” I tell him as I hear Nagisa continue to talk on the other end of the phone.

“That's great Nagisa.” I tell him. “Right now we're going to our first official swim practice.”  
“Really? Well, don’t let me stop you! Call me later when it’s over. I wanna know everything!!! And Rei says hi.” Nagisa tells me before I hang up.

“Okay, Makoto says hi too. We’ll call you later. Bye.” I hang up the phone and turn to Makoto. He looks like he’s in his own world right now and is staring out the window. I don’t bother him and start thinking myself.

It was different before, but will things change now that we’re in a different place? With new people and a new location, we might change and that might be bad. What if Makoto is a different person after? That would be terrible. Makoto won’t change. That’s dumb of me to think. Well, I think a lot so it really doesn’t matter. 

We get to our stop and head out. I see the building a little far back from where we’re standing and I stop to get a better look of it. The size of the building was pretty large, larger than the buildings surrounding it. The outside of it was a gray color, with at least 3 or 4 floors and plenty of windows surrounding it as well. Makoto stops next to me and looks at it in awe.

“It looks amazing. Just from a distance, you can tell that it’s a pretty prestigious place, don’t you think? And this is the place we’re going to be swimming in everyday, practicing for competitions and such… I hope we’ll be able to make it with these other people, Haru.” he tells me as he looks at the building.

“I don’t know. All we have to do is swim.” I tell him. In a few minutes, we get to the building and reach the pool, where there are already some other boys swimming laps. We go to the locker room to change and come out in our swim shorts, goggles and cap in hand. The coach, a tall man with a black tracksuit and a light gray hair color, spots us and waves us over.

“Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana, correct? Coach Shiroya is the name or just Coach will be fine. How are you boys? I hope nothing in the locker room was any trouble for you.” he asks us, giving me and Makoto a firm handshake each.

“There were no troubles Coach. Thanks for asking.” Makoto says for the two of us. 

“Well, then. If you want you can start doing a few laps to get you warmed up, but I think Nanase already had that in mind.” he says as I’m already at the diving board with my cap and goggles already on.

I dive into the water and feel the cold on my skin in a second. The way the water feels on my skin every time is amazing. I go up to start swimming freestyle and within moments, get ready for the turn. I go back for a second lap as I see Makoto in the lane next to me, swimming backstroke like he usually does. He looks so graceful, I think for a split second. As I finish the lap I stop beneath the diving board and breathe for a little while. Makoto comes back from his last lap and stops in his lane next to me.

“So how was it? First time swimming in this pool wasn’t bad, am I right?” he says with a cheerful smile.

“Yeah, it was good.” I tell him as I see the coach walk toward us. He seems pleased with how we did. 

“Impressive. Let’s hope you’ll show us some of that later, when we have some friendly competition once everyone gets here.” he tells us as I see more boys come from the locker room.

“Well, Haru, let's get ready for a competition then.”Makoto says with a small smile.

Chapter 2 : The Relay

We get out of the pool and see some boys already interacting with each other, and all gathering towards where Coach Shiroya is standing. We head over there and I bump into someone.

“Ouch,” he says, looking at me. He had a white hair color and was small in size, around Nagisa’s height maybe. I look at him for a second.

“Sorry, are you okay?” I ask kinda bluntly. It kinda startles this kid, and he looked at me funny before replying.  
“I'm fine, it's okay. I'm Moori Ishiyama.” he introduces himself.  
“Oh, I'm Haru, Haruka Nanase. This is Makoto Tachibana.” I point to my friend in front. 

“We should save the introductions for later,” he tells us. It was then I realized that the Coach was talking.

“I want you to group into 4 for each team: we will be having a small relay to test our skills and see how we can work together, since most of everyone are newcomers here.” he instructs as we start murmuring. It seemed there were about 20 of us here in the area, so about 5 teams, I thought to myself. 

As soon as he stopped talking, all the boys started to group up into teams, as if they already knew each other. 

“So do you two want to be on a team with me? I swim butterfly, if that's okay with you.” Moori informed us as he looked for one more person. 

“Sure, we'd love to.” Makoto responded. I was perfectly fine with the decision and I didn't know if we would be able to find someone who swam breaststroke. Suddenly, I spotted a boy with lime green hair, who seemed kinda lost in the crowd. I poked his shoulder to ask if he swam breaststroke.

“Ahh!” he exclaimed, clearly startled by just a tap on the shoulder.  
“Do you swim breaststroke?” I asked him. He looked puzzled for a second, but then answered me.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do!” he told me quickly. He was taller and had a good physique, but it seemed kinda off for a guy like him to be flustered.  
“By the way, I'm Daisuke Okimoto.” he said to me as I led him to Makoto and Moori .  
“So this is Daisuke. He swims breaststroke so we have everyone needed.”I explain to the two of them.  
“Great! We'll be able to do this now!” Moori says with excitement in his voice.  
It took at least 10 minutes until everyone was in a team. Coach looked pleased and called everyone's attention.

“The rules are just like regular competition rules. You have to swim at the correct moment on my signal and time your entrances into the pool precisely. If you go in too early you're disqualified. If you go in too late you are also disqualified. Remember: this is just for fun and to let me assess your skills for upcoming events, so try your hardest. On my signal, backstroke will go first, followed by breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. So men, take your places!” Coach Shiroya explained as we all got ready for the competition.

Makoto puts on his cap and goggles and enters the pool. I watch as he gets into position and stays relaxed until Coach gives everyone the signal, a loud blast from an air horn he gets from his pocket. 

As soon as we hear the loud blam from the horn, the boys in the pool start swimming. Daisuke gets ready to dive into the pool as soon as Makoto makes the turn. Makoto makes it and soon Daisuke dives in. He swims breaststroke with style, but is still fast for the competition. 

Seems like he's done this before, I think to myself. Soon, he's coming back and Moori is ready for his turn. 

“It seems like we're currently in 2nd right now,” Makoto points out as I see Moori dive in when Daisuke comes back. His butterfly is flawless; his movements were on point each time he came up and moved his arms. I soon get ready as I see him make the turn back, and within moments, I dive in and start swimming free. I hear Makoto, Daisuke, and Moori all urging me to go faster so we could make it, and I'm speeding up within seconds. I'm head to head with the boy in the lane next to me, and as soon as I touch the wall, the coach blows the horn.

“Team 3 is the winner!!” he says as he points to us. I look to see that the times were a close call. I made it just by a few seconds. I start to get out of the pool and see the other three on my team come towards me. 

“Wow! That was great! You’re a good swimmer!” Daisuke says to me as I’m  
drying off. “Say, I didn’t catch any of your names, and I’m Daisuke! But you can call me D or Dai if you want.”

“Well, I’m Makoto, this is Haru, and we’ve only just met Moori,” Makoto tells Daisuke as we start to head over to the coach for more evaluations.

“Now, that I’ve seen what you boys can do, I want you to do a few laps each in the pool so that you can assess each other based on what you’ve seen. This way, you’ll be able to get a feel for how your teammates swim and be able to comprehend the techniques and styles that they use while swimming. So get to it!!” Coach Shiroya tells us. 

Soon, everyone in the pool is swimming and doing what Coach told us to, and the four of us were soon assessing each other’s abilities like everyone else. Makoto went first, just like he did in the relay. He did two laps in the pool back and forth and then came back so that we could talk to each other about how he did.

“I didn’t get the chance to notice your skills before, Makoto. Your movements are very precise and are in sync, and I can tell you prepare for the turn when you’re close.” Moori says with an impressed face.

“Yeah! You did amazing. When you swim, I can tell that you’re really focused on your movements and that turn going back.” Dai chimes in as I focus on Makoto. I’ve never noticed how muscular he was… and the fact that I’m noticing his hair and eyes too is really off. I think something’s wrong with me and I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

“What’s wrong, Haru? Did I do bad?” Makoto asks me with a questioning look on his face. He seems really concerned with my opinion… I wonder why? I think before answering.

“It’s nothing… you did good today, Makoto. Just like always.” I tell him with a small smile.

“We should continue the assessing, so who should go next?” I ask, urging someone to volunteer to go next. 

“I’ll go if you want,” Dai offers. He then goes onto the diving board and dives into the pool. We see him start to swim breaststroke and his technique is the same as he did before. Absolutely flawless, and in sync with his movements. He goes for the turn, but is a little hesitant for some reason this time. I think I should ask about that later. When he goes for the final turn back, though, he isn’t as hesitant and goes for it immediately and makes it perfectly, then coming back continuing butterfly. I wonder if the other two noticed that slight hesitation in the turn to go back. 

He gets out of the water with his cap and goggles in hand, giving us a smile.  
“So how did I do, guys? Assess away, if you will.” he tells us in a funny way. Makoto and Moori laugh at how he says it and once again, I’m noticing how cheerful the way Makoto acts when he’s happy, which is really odd because I’ve never done this before, all this time that I’ve known him. He notices me looking and I think he blushed a little, which is also weird, because I don’t think he’s ever acted this way before.

“Well, I thought that it was good, and the dive was really impressive.” Makoto says, smiling at Dai.

“Yeah, and when you came in at the end it was really fast, which is good because speed and accuracy are the things we need if we’re gonna be a team together for upcoming competitions.” Moori said along with Makoto.

“What about you, Haru, right? Do you have any constructive criticism or something?” Dai asked me.

“That first turn―how come you hesitated just a little bit?” I ask him with a curious, yet serious expression on my face. “The turns after seemed fine.”

“I can explain that…“ he tells us quietly.  
Chapter 3 : Evaluations

“You see, the thing is, I was absolutely terrible at the turns when I first started to learn how to swim professionally. My mom would take to my lessons and watch me as I was learning them. She was always there for me when I had trouble and couldn’t do it, and urged me that trying my hardest was one of the most important things that should be done when learning something new. I mean, now I can do them fine, but whenever I think of the first one I always feel like I’m going to mess up somehow like I did when I was a kid.” he shook his lime green hair and water drops came from it.

“Just recently too, my mom passed away…she had cancer and knew that she wouldn’t make it. Her funeral was 2 months ago, and I’m still torn up about it. My mom was a wonderful woman, and always saw in the positive. She told me, ’Dai, take care of yourself and keep on swimming. You know that I’ve always told you to follow what you’re passionate about and to keep on trying, no matter what. I’ll always love you, so don’t think of the bad, when I’m gone, okay?’ and within moments she passed, with a smile while looking at me for the last time.”

When he finished speaking, the three of us were in shock. I couldn’t say anything, it felt like that backstory was really deep. Makoto looked like he was in tears and Moori was absolutely speechless, just like I was.

“So did you think about your mom when you did that turn?” I asked him.

He didn’t seem upset when I asked, but more relieved and content with what he just told us. He looked at me and smiled.

“Yeah, I thought about her being somewhere here, watching me from a distance, and cheering me on like she always had.” he told me with sad eyes.

By this time, Makoto was crying, so I came over and just embraced him. 

“Come on, you know it’s gonna be okay.” I tell him, as he silently cries into me.

“The way things happen though…it’s just so terrible sometimes. How good people die when they shouldn’t and bad people get to live themselves a full life.” he says to me between sniffles.

A moment later, Makoto stops crying and wipes away the tears. I know he gets way too emotional like that sometimes so it’s natural by now to just hug him so he feels better. 

“I’m sorry you two had to see that, especially you Dai. I mean, we barely know each other, yet I’m still sad about what happened to your mom.” he tells Moori and Dai.

“It’s okay, when my other friends heard, they were upset about it too, and some barely knew her,” Dai tells him reassuringly.

“Anyway,” Moori says, “we should really be getting back to the evaluation thing we're doing right now.”  
“Yeah, you're right. This is no time for me to be crying anyway.” Makoto wipes away the tears and looks really focused. “As soon as we're finished with practice today, let's go out to eat, the four of us. Then we'll be able to get to know each other better, since we've all just met. Excluding me and Haru though; we've known each other for a really long time.” he says with a small laugh.

“That sounds great! I know this really good small restaurant just a little while from here, so we can eat there.” Dai informs us as Moori gets ready for his turn doing the laps.

He dives in gracefully and starts doing butterfly as soon as his head comes up from the water. He swims slow at first but when he gets close to the other side of the pool for the turn he goes faster. He makes the turn swiftly and goes back to the other side of the pool in a constant speed. So far everyone's skill level is fairly the same and we all got the hang of doing the laps.

As soon as Moori gets out of the pool I stop thinking to pay attention to what the others have to say.

“That was some graceful swimming, Moori. Just don't forget to keep the speed at a certain momentum so that in a relay next time we'll be able to make it into the top rankings. If we're all still together.” Makoto explains to him as he dries off.

“Oh okay, I'll try to do my best when it comes to speed.” he says with a confident tone.

“The dive needs a little work, because of the way you're arching your back. It needs to be in a certain position based on where you put your hands and feet before you go in.” Dai explains to Moori, gesturing to show a little emphasis.

“Oh, I didn't know that. I only knew the hands and feet part. I had no idea your back had to be a certain way too.” he says.

Those observations seemed accurate. Hmmmm, was there anything else? Oh yeah, I remember now.

“When you first dove in, it was good that you were able to keep an average pace to save energy towards the end of the lap and for the turn. One of me and Makoto’s teammates, Nagisa, swam just like that. He would save up his energy then put it towards coming back.” I tell him while giving an approving nod. 

“Cool I'll keep it in mind while swimming next time.” he tells me with a reassuring smile. 

“Haru, it's your turn so get ready.” Dai and Moori give me a nod as Makoto reminds me that I was the last, just like in the relay earlier.

I walk to the diving board with my cap and goggles on. I lean in and grip the board before releasing to dive into the pool. As soon as I hit the water, it feels automatic to start swimming again.

I continue to swim just like I would usually do and it seems like nothing’s changed. I feel free swimming freestyle...and I don't think that feeling will change. 

I come back to see the three boys looking down at me, clearly amazed at how I swam. I come up from the water and Makoto hands me a towel.

“That was something! You swam so fast and had a swift movement when you came back, Haru.” Moori tells me with a smile. “I’ve never really been good at keeping my speed when it comes to freestyle, that’s why I chose butterfly. I mean, it was probably my favorite stroke because I was good at the technique and was able to learn how to do it quickly.”

“That’s Haru for you. He’s always been like this, and he literally starts to strip as soon as he sees a pool of water he can get into.” Makoto says next to me with a laugh. “I’ll tell you guys the stories later, because there are a ton.”

“Well, I thought that it was a good dive, and you were able to follow through on what you were doing immediately after you went in. It kinda seemed like there was another person inside you, and they took control of your body, knowing what to do already without instruction.” Dai tells me as the other two give him a puzzling look. 

It was kind of like that though; all I knew how to do was swim and thought it would be a good career choice for my future. I remember how I had no idea what to do when we had to fill out those papers for the kind of job we wanted back in high school. Nagisa kept on nagging at how swimming is just what I was gonna do the rest of my life, and kept on telling me to actually consider joining a swim team if I was gonna do that, even if I didn’t want to compete professionally. After that trip to Australia with Rin, however, it changed how I saw joining a professional team and how it made an impact on the way Rin changed.

**Author's Note:**

> @hymx_wonho = Twitter  
> @musicmeisterjj = Tumblr  
> Go find me if you want to ask anything! I'm always up for suggestions, and don't mind a DM or anything to help!  
> Oh yeah, I'll be updating the tags if anything happens (like if I get any views XD)


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